Jishnu Pranoy death: Government did everything possible, says CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the government did whatever was possible in Jishnu Prannoy case. At the Cabinet briefing, he said the government had agreed to family's requests, be it setting up of SIT or appointment of special public prosecutor. The chief minister said despite attempts by political parties to exploit the situation, the family never levelled allegations against the government.

When they came to meet the DGP to demand the arrest of the remaining accused, unfortunate incidents happened there. In the midst of crisis, many prominent people called up including poet Sugathakumari and Archbishop Soosa Pakiam expressing concern over the plight of Jishnu’s mother. Giving details of the turn of events on Sunday, he said government had entrusted state attorney K G Sohan and special prosecutor C.P. Udayabhanu who spoke to the family for four hours.

“Sohan called me when I was in Kochi. He said the family was upset over DGP office incident and sought to know if I could speak with them. I spoke to Mahija and assured action against cops in case of any lapse. Subsequently, the family reached an agreement with the advocates and called off their hunger fast,’’he said. He said it was not a protest which could have been resolved merely by talking.

“You should also try to see the game behind. The government took all steps including attaching the property of absconding accused. We could not have done anything beyond this, everything was done,” he added. When the court granted bail, the government challenged it in the Supreme Court. No state government has ever gone to the apex court to challenge bail, he said.He said it needs to be examined whether the government had lost the good will because of this incident. It was for the family to ponder why they chose to protest. Was there anything they wanted to achieve through this agitation? Why are people not asking these questions?

‘All credit to Sohan, Udayabhanu’

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said state attorney K G Sohan and special prosecutor C P Udayabhanu played a key role in resolving the agitation launched by Jishnu Pronnoy’s family. However, he said CPI leader Kanam Rajendran had no role in the final settlement. At a press conference here the chief minister said that it was the initiative taken by state attorney and special prosecutor that brought an end to the protest. When asked about the intervention by Sitaram Yechury, he said the CPM general secretary had consulted him on the issue at the behest of a Supreme Court lawyer.

“Yechury called me to convey that a lawyer came to meet him on Jishnu issue and whether he should speak to him. I told him to go ahead,” Pinarayi said. After the discussions Sitaram called again saying Jishnu’s family was positive on calling off the strike. “I told him that the family particularly Sreejith had been speaking in different voices. We need to get his views since he is also the master mind of the agitation. If he is ready for talks rest of the issues can be discussed,” the chief minister said.

Udayabhanu (extreme left) and Sohan (second from left) after Sreejith’s family ended stir on Sunday night.

Pinarayi said he also suggested that the lawyer should speak to M V Jayarjan since he knew Sreejith. In the meantime, the advocate called up Sreejith and gave the phone to Sitaram Yechury and the two spoke on the issue. Later M V Jayarjan also spoke to Sreejith which led to the intervention by Sohan and Udayabhanu. It was good intervention on their part, he added.